Ways to Engage

We combine academia’s expertise with industry’s agility to shorten the time for discovery and innovation.

Comprised of research scientists, engineers and industry partners, the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Coalition aims to develop controlled environment agriculture as an economically and environmentally sustainable option for agricultural practices by performing evidence-based, transformative research.

The CEA Coalition takes a multidisciplinary approach to solving industry’s short-term and long-term challenges by leveraging the interdisciplinary experts and state-of-the-art technologies offered by NC State (N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative, Phytotron, Horticultural Science CEA).

Our partnership with the N.C. PSI provides a direct competitive advantage in our work to identify solutions with a long-term impact. We leverage the power of knowledge in academia with the agility of the commercial sector to create solutions that have real value.

The Controlled Environment Agriculture Coalition offers different levels for collaboration, which contribute to our transformative research that will benefit the entire industry.

Ways to Engage with the CEA Coalition

Membership & Advisory Council

Members of the CEA Coalition have access to research progress reports, the opportunity to serve in the advisory council, and offer input on the prioritization of the research projects. CEA Coalition membership fees are used to work on transformative research addressing industry’s big challenges.

Participation in Federal and State Funded Projects

Our coalition often develops new grant proposals to obtain federal and state funding for CEA research that addresses industry problems. Industry members within our coalition are essential to this effort and thus, have the opportunity to be involved as stakeholders and/or advisory board members.

CEA Coalition members within the academic sector are also vital to our ability to obtain funding, as the multidisciplinary expertise of this coalition allows us to perform the transformative research required to address complex and multifaceted challenges. Therefore, members within the academic sector may participate as collaborators on grant-funded projects.

One-on-One Research

Our coalition understands the value of industry-academic collaborations. The complementary skill set offered by these two sectors often leads to a powerful partnership that drives innovation.

Industry companies interested in partnering with the CEC for a one-on-one collaboration have the opportunity to utilize our expert researchers and gain access to our state-of-the-art infrastructure to tackle their specific industry issue and sharpen their competitive advantage. With this type of collaboration, any resulting innovations and findings will be intellectual property (IP) protected and provide the industry partner a competitive advantage.

Service Agreements

The CEA coalition at NC State can serve as a contract research organization (CRO) for industry companies interested in leveraging our infrastructure and rigorous research execution. When utilizing the coalition as a CRO service, company sponsors must present the Coalition with a fully outlined research experiment.

Gifts and Donations

Support our efforts through unrestrictive gifts and donations, all funds will go directly to support transformative research in the area of Controlled Environment Agriculture.